Nearly twelve years ago I wrote an effusive post urging my readers to immediately go out and spend $500 to order the Landing Page Handbook from MarketingSherpa. For a long time afterwards, I referenced the guide as one of the best resources available on the subject. It featured objective studies and analyses backing up best practices for creating promotional landing pages and online registration forms.
But MarketingSherpa had newer studies to promote, and sales of the handbook may not have had a long tail at that price. Eventually they removed it from their online store. I looked around for newer, better guides but I never found a more comprehensive and credible collection of tips.
So last month I wrote to MECLABS Institute (the research company that acquired MarketingSherpa) and asked if there was any chance of them selling the handbook again. In my email I said I thought it remained the best resource on the topic of landing pages and registration forms that I had ever seen, and that even though the publishing date was old in Internet years, the recommendations were still valid. More people should have access to the information!
I got a reply from Daniel Burstein, the Senior Director of Content and Marketing. He said that there was little to no chance of printing more hardcopy versions and putting them up for sale on the store. But to my surprise, he said he would dig up the PDF version and make it available for free download.
Folks, this is the deal of the century! Whether you market and promote upcoming webinars, on-demand recordings, training courses, products, or physical events, the tips and case studies in this handbook can improve the performance of your web pages and forms.
I see that Daniel wrote a new cover letter for the handbook, with links to newer studies and online articles and guides. That's great, and you should definitely keep following the latest research. But the venerable old handbook, now completely free, is the best starting point you could want.
Download the handbook today at https://www.marketingsherpa.com/freestuff/marketingsherpa-landing-page-handbook
By the way, I should mention that although Daniel elected to use my request as a pull-quote in their marketing (see the value of real-world testimonials on pages 22, 52, 80, 144), I have no business relationship with MECLAB or MarketingSherpa. I just really like the book!
I'll end with the same footnote I wrote in 2007… Except for a very few vendor exception cases, built-in registration form and landing form generators in web conferencing products are overwhelmingly inflexible, insufficiently customizable, and violate almost every best practice mentioned in the handbook. Vendors really need to get on the ball and stop acting as barriers to their customers' success in getting webinar registrations.
